Liverpool 2-0 West Ham
Liverpool marched on to their seventh successive win in the league and opened up a seven point lead at the top of the Premiership.
Following the midweek defeat by Valencia, Liverpool were aiming to bounce straight back with a win, against a West Ham side looking for a fourth consecutive away win in the Premiership and also their first win at Anfield since 1963.
Liverpool lined up almost identically to the side that faced Valencia, with Smicer the only addition to the team, included in place of Steve Gerrard who was rested from the starting line up, but still made the matchday squad as one of the five substitutes.
David James made his first return to Anfield since signing for West Ham, after a serious injury kept him out of last year's fixture, but their was disappointing news for the Hammers before the game with the news that Paulo Di Canio was to miss the game due to injury.
The game was slow to get going, and even though both 'keepers were seeing plenty of the bacll, it was more down to collecting long balls rather than being forced into making saves.
The first chances when it came, inevitably fell to Michael Owen, who was put through by a terrific ball by Smicer. But rather than going with power, Owen tryed to curl a shot into the top corner but failed to hit the target as the ball flew a couple of feet past the far post.
Smicer and Owen again linked up well again in the first half, with the Czech midfielder again playing a pass through to Owen, but his strong shot aimed at the near post was well stopped by a one handed David James save.
As with the fixture last season, Owen was already looking to be the difference between the sides, and he made no mistake with his third chance of the afternoon.
Carragher gave Owen the ball around 30 yards from goal, and after turning towards goal and skipping past the challenges of two West Ham defenders, Owen chipped the ball delightfully over James from 8 yards out, with what was his tenth Liverpool goal of the season.
A long range effort by Danny Murphy within a minute of the opening goal failed to trouble David James, but Jamie Carragher was unlucky not to have doubled the lead in the latter stages of the first half.
The move was started with some good work by Owen on the left, and after finding Murphy just outside the West Ham area, Murphy looked for a shot but saw Carragher storming into the area just to the right of him. Murphy's short ball to Carragher was struck first time, but the shot was agonisingly wide of the far post after beating James.
A free header put over the bar by Steve Lomas was West Ham's best attempt at goal in a half dominated by Liverpool.
Lomas had another chance at the start of the second half, but somehow failed to score when it looked easier to put the ball in the net than it did to miss.
A cross from the right by Joe Cole found Ian Pearce, and his shot from 6 yards was blocked by Hyypia. But Dudek also reacted to the shot and with the Polish 'keeper already on the ground, Steve Lomas looked certain to put the rebound into the net. But Dudek maanaged to get a hand on the ball and with the ball appearing to still be heading for the back of the net and the West Ham fans already celebrating the goal, Dudek reached out his other arm and grabbed the ball on the line to prevent an early second half equaliser for the Hammers.
The chance was to be West Ham's final clear cut opportunity to score, and on 55 minutes, the game was virtually all over as Michael Owen made it 2-0 with a bizarre goal.
Vladimir Smicer broke into the West Ham half and played a pass downt he right side of the field for Owen to run behind the defence and get on the end of. David James also went for the ball but Owen took a touch to beat the former Liverpool keeper before instantly trying to pass the ball into the net.
The ball initially looked like it didnt have the pace to make it across the line and didnt even look on target, but the ball swerved towards the goal but still had to beat the attempted clearances of two West Ham defenders. Ian Pearce went sliding past the ball, and Christian Dailly did no better as he slid towards the ball just as it crossed the line, but couldnt manage to make the goalline clearance, instead helping the ball across the line.
The remaining Liverpool chances were all long range efforts, as Owen, Gerrard, on as a sub for Smicer, and finally Hamann all forced James into saves with shots from the edge of the area. But for all of the possession and chances that Liverpool had, they were never really forced out of second gear against a West Ham side who struggled to put up a real fight, and it was always comfortable for the Reds.
The win for Liverpool equals Arsenal's Premiership record of 12 games unbeaten from the start of the season, and equals Liverpool's longest run of successive wins since the formation of the Premiership. More importantly though, the three points further strengthen Liverpool's position at the top of the table, with Arsenal not in action until tomorrow.
In the only other match involving a top five club, Man United were narrow 2-1 winners over Southampton thanks to a late Diego Forlan goal, but United still trail Liverpool by 8 points.
News of the rest of the weekend's Premiership games will be added tomorrow.
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